Seale new deputy DPP

In an interview with Barbados TODAY he said: “I am a minister of justice, I am first a servant, a public servant.

“I served the public for the last 36 plus years of my life, first in the capacity of a police officer.”

The island’s second highest prosecutor gave the commitment on the heels of his appointment which takes effect on Saturday, February 15.

He said: “I have always tried to serve, here it is the same way. I deal with persons that have been charged with very serious offences but they are human beings at the end of the day.

“I try to think about it like if these were my relatives what would I want.

“If I were the complainant I would want justice but if I were the accused I would also want justice.”

Seale, an alumnus of The Lodge School, holds honours law and history bachelor’s degrees from the University of the West Indies Cave Hill Campus and earned his bar practice certificate from Hugh Wooding Law School.

He added: “I never wanted to be part of any conspiracy or anything that accuses a person wrongfully so I want to make sure that the cases before me are cases that have merit, cases that I can honestly prosecute and at end of the day I can head to bed comfortable that I have done my duty.

“I would not collude with anybody to do wrong. I was never with it then [as a police officer] and I will never be with it now.

“I make sure that everybody gets a fair trial, I am going to prosecute you notwithstanding and I am going to prosecute vigorously.”

A 20-year veteran of the Royal Barbados Police Force, who worked in the Traffic Corps as a motorcycle cop, before attaining the rank of sergeant, Seale moved to the Police Prosecutors Office in 1992, then the office of the Director of Public Prosecutionsin 2004.

He stated: “I am most humble that the powers that be repose confidence in me, sufficient enough to elevate me to the post of the Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions.

“I have worked in the public service, in the whole criminal justice system all my life, the police force first and then the DPP.

“The entire 36 years that I have worked in the public service, I feel rewarded, for want of a better term, for the service that I have given over the years.”

Under the leadership of the late DPP Charles Leacock Q.C., Seale has prosecuted many cases of national interest including the Campus Trendz murder trial of convict Jamar Bynoe in which six young women lost their lives in September of 2010.

He also prosecuted the infamous case of Peter Agard who was found guilty of outraging public decency for having sexual intercourse with a corpse in the mortuary of the Queen Elizabeth Hospital. That case was the first of its kind in the country.

Moving through the ranks since joining the DPP first as an acting Crown Counsel, Seale has also held the post of acting magistrate and DPP as well as part-time lecturer at the Barbados Community College and the UWI open campus.

He said he is committed to giving DPP Donna Babb-Agard, Q.C., his “unwavering and wholehearted” support as they and the rest of their team focus on and carry out the Government’s mandate of clearing the backlog of cases in in the system.

Seale told Barbados TODAY: “When I hear people speak about this backlog and how it was not addressed properly there are factors that we didn’t take into consideration as the system evolved. The system evolved, it was good in one way but it created problems in another way.

“A lot of things that go into matters that ensure that accused persons have the fairest possible trial, the fairest possible means of determining the issues that affect them and a sentence that even them would be satisfied.”

The judicial officer, who at one point of his life only “envisaged” becoming a gazetted police officer and then an efficient Crown Counsel, said he never dreamt of assuming the chair of deputy DPP.

“Never crossed my mind, call it a lack of ambition I don’t know.

“Although I like to reach for the stars. I just wanted to get in the office of the DPP, once I can prosecute on behalf the Crown but God was good to me and opportunities just popped up,” Seale said.

He also gave his commitment to maintaining the ideals of the job.

“The DPP, she is a stickler for this thing because at the end of the day she wants to ensure that her prosecutors rise to a standard of not only competence but trustworthiness.

“A standard that the public will be satisfied that they be confident that they are being represented properly.”
fernellawedderburn@barbadostoday.bb